Transcript of the above video:

I sort of paused to take a breath before making this video because I did not want to be overly hyperbolic. I thought about initially titling this video "chill, chill China" the Thai term, "chill, chill", like just "chill out" whatever, but I have to be honest my fervour, that fervour of the converted that is me, the naturalized Thai, the naturalized Thai in me that loves this place, you know what I mean, the fervour of the converted. As I went on reading and diving down this rabbit hole and tip of the hat by the way to Tim Newton, TNT down there. I believe he is in Phuket these days; tip of the hat to him. I actually didn't even come upon this until I was watching one of his videos over on his channel and then I did a deep dive into this and at first glance I thought this is ridiculous and then it went deeper and it just kind of got crazier. But long story short, the title of this video I think you could read with a certain amount of the fervour if you will from the film, The 300, where he says "This is Sparta!" That is kind of how I feel right now. This is Thailand! It keeps going through my head the old Big Lebowski quote where he says "Smokey this is not Nam, this is bowling, there are rules." This is Thailand. It just is what it is sort of thing. While on the one hand, again to quote another movie, I keep thinking of the movie The Death of Stalin, the part where General Zhukov walks in very upset, but he looks very happy and he says: "I look happy but I am very, very effing furious." Like that is kind of somewhere in there, kind of how I feel in all of this, so let's get into it. Again to note, credit where credit is due. I first came upon this whole thing as a result of watching Tim Newton down there, TNT, his channel. We have done some collaborations in the past; good to see you're doing your thing Tim. Then I went ahead and did some further deep diving because the sources on this stuff, I wanted to be real clear, what's what. 

Which brings us to our first source which is the Global Times. So let's bear in mind, who is the Global Times? I went and looked that up, it is an organ of the CCP, and to be clear, that acronym stands for Chinese Communist Party, so this comes from the global times, so quoting directly, globaltimes.cn. The article is titled: Thailand reportedly to invite Chinese police to patrol popular cities to 'boost tourist confidence'. Quoting directly: "Thai Officials announced on Sunday a decision to invite Chinese Police Officers to participate in patrols in several tourist cities in a bid to boost the confidence of Chinese tourists amid public safety concerns following a deadly shooting in Bangkok in early October that killed one Chinese tourist and injured another." I have got to tell you, the Thai, the naturalized Thai in me, the notion of foreign police patrolling Thai streets is just anathema. I don't even have the words to articulate the level of disdain I have for that idea and indignation at the very thought of the Global Times writing that this is what is going to be happening, so let's clarify though. Moving over to the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: No Chinese cops on Thai streets, says Police Chief. Quoting directly: "National Police Chief, Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol has denied that Thai Police have sought Chinese counterparts' patrols in the country, saying that would raise security issues." Yeah, that is an understatement. Quoting further, and I can't agree more with our National Police Chief on this. Quote: "He said he disagreed with the idea of inviting Chinese police to take care of Chinese tourists in Thailand, saying that would breach Thai sovereignty." Yes Sir. Quoting further: "The Royal Thai Police were already able to protect both residents and visitors, he said." Yes they are, very capable. And I am not speaking for anyone else in Thailand other than myself when I say, if you are really that scared of coming to Thailand, don't come to Thailand. The solution to your fears is not we now have to allow your police in our country. Period. End of discussion. Again, that was a tragedy, a true tragedy what happened, no doubt. And I am confident that the authorities in Thailand are taking whatever measures they can to try and ensure that that doesn't happen again but to use that as a pretext for saying that now foreign police will be patrolling people in Thailand, again just beyond the pale; that is just ridiculous.

So I was going to kind, as you can see my blood is a little up here over this one, but I didn't actually want to make this video but it pertains to law enforcement; it pertains to law so it falls through within the bailiwick of this channel. Actually probably the reason I didn't even find it initially and I was sort of tipped off to it by Tim was because I wasn't really looking for this because it kind of is on that nebulous sort of penumbra if you will of where our sort of bailiwick on this channel ends, but yeah it clearly falls within that penumbra, hence the reason I am making this video. 

Then as I am diving down this rabbit hole, it goes to even another place. This is from Thai Examiner, that is thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: China's Embassy calls on Thai Media to censor its coverage of Taiwan to protect relationships. Quoting directly: "Shocking and peremptory statement from Chinese Officials in Bangkok appears to order the Thai media into line over Taiwan. The trigger was a respectful interview on the Thai PBS channel with the Taiwanese Foreign Minister." Quoting further: "The Chinese Embassy in Bangkok has warned Thai media outlets about coverage of Taiwan, saying it could damage the friendship between the people of China and Thailand. In an angry tone, the diplomatic mission strongly criticized as 'nonsense' and 'fallacies' the pronouncements of the Taiwanese Foreign Minister in an interview given in Taipei on November 1st to the respected TV station Thai PBS, which was broadcast on November 3rd. The Embassy statement described the interview as an abuse of press freedom that harmed the relationship between Thailand and China." Now as per usual, Thai Examiner goes into a meticulous recount of what's going on there, and I'm not even going to get into the One China thing. Look, I have always respected the One China policy; I have always found it to be one of those nebulous things that just works and it has worked for the better part of the last 75 odd years or whatever, okay? On top of that, I can think of no other country on the planet that has been more respectful of that notion than the Thais. But remember, there are multiple voices in the choir that is One China and Thailand is going to take account of those disparate voices basically. And what is wrong with that? Thailand has to maintain her position in the world; Thailand has to understand what's going on in the world. I think it is exactly within line of Thai PBS's mandate to understand what is going on in the varying parts of China again without saying that there is anything but One China. No one is disagreeing with that and we understand again, it is a nebulous situation but everyone here has respected that. I find it just galling that Thailand has acted as a friend to China, down the line, and to just act like this is, I don't have the words, I really don't have the words other than to say "This is Thailand. Thailand's Press will deal with Thailand's issues in Thailand." Yes there is a certain decorum that is maintained within the Thai Press that may be slightly different than other places in the world. Great. It's Thailand, that's how it works here, okay? 

The other thing is Thai Police can do their job. We don't need any foreign police patrolling or doing anything else here in Thailand. Long story short, Thailand's going to take care of Thailand. To sort of paraphrase Taylor Swift, "Thailand gonna Thailand." And on an even deeper level, if you can't see, I am even like sweating now; this is just upsetting me beyond measure. I never do this on camera but I am going to go ahead and wipe my brow because I don't want to be sweating all over the camera. So when I first read this stuff, I waited a day before even making this video. The thing that kept coming to me,  I had watched the movie The Jackal the other day, not The Day of the Jackal which everybody says "oh that is a better movie, why would you ever watch The Jackal?" I like the Jackal, the Movie with Bruce Willis, Sydney Poitier; there is a scene toward the beginning of the movie and to set the scene, the beginning of the movie is set in post-Cold War Russia, it is like the mid-90s, and the bad guy if you will - the Russians never seem to get a break in American pop culture, the bad guys in the '90's well Russian mobsters, before it was the Communists, whatever - but there is the scene where this Russian wise guy's Club is raided and this FBI agent in the form of Sydney Poitier comes in with the Russian Police or whatever for the raid, and the Russian wise guy gets very angry and he says: "What are you doing here? This is not Chicago, this is Russia, so get out of here" is basically what he said. That is kind of how I feel right now. This is not Beijing, this is Thailand. Thai cops will take care of Thailand. Thailand is fine. This whole attitude, it's a Western thing too. This isn't just China. That is why I didn't want to make this entirely focused on China. There is an entitlement attitude from the West as well. Foreigners come over here all the time and act like the Thais owe them something or I don't know what that attitude is or where that comes from but they do not. This is Thailand and it is a great country and it has been here for a long time and it can take care of itself and if you are scared to come in here, don't come.